Guidestar Optical Systems, Inc.

Longmont, CO · Defense · Acquired by General Atomics (2020)

FSO-PLAN: software tool for planning free-space optical (FSO) laser communication links and networks

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Updated Oct 23, 2026

Sector: Defense
Headquarters: Longmont, CO
Total capital: $3.7M

Federal grants: $1.6M; 3 awards · 2016–2020; Rank in peer group#37 of 89
Private capital raised: None on recordNo Form D filings on SEC EDGAR. Some raises are not filed.
Federal contracts: $2.2M; 13 awards · Defense; Rank in Defense#671 of 1442
Granted patents: None on recordNo USPTO grants. Applications publish after 18 months.

Capital timeline

Latest events

Mar 2020Federal grantDefense · Phase II · Analysis and prediction of FSO coverage within the battlespace (FSO-PLAN)$666K
Sep 2019Federal contractDefense · SR1 Phase I-adaptive Optics System For A High Energy Laser Weapon System$108K
Jun 2019Federal contractDefense · Vibration Imaging For The Characterization Of Extended, Non-cooperative Targets$150K
Jun 2019Federal contractDefense · Fast-framing Short Wave Infrared (swir) Cameras For Digital-holographic Detection$150K
Feb 2019Federal grantDefense · Phase II · Adaptive Optics Prototype for a Meter-class Telescope used for Space Surveillance$750K
Jan 2019Federal contractDefense · Free Space Optical Communication Planning Tool (fso-plan)$150K
Jan 2019Federal contractDefense · Forecasting, Measuring And Compensating, Optical Turbulence For Air Force Applications$50K

Show 8 earlier federal awards

Oct 2018Federal contractDefense · SBIR Phase I - Directed Energy Decision Aids$150K
Aug 2018Federal contractDefense · Volumetric Wavefront Sensing For The Characterization Of Distributed-volume Aberrations$150K
Jul 2018Federal contractDefense · Igf::ot::igf Stable High Bandwidth Ao Control With Physical Dm Constraints$150K
Sep 2017Federal contractDefense · Igf::ot::igf Holographic Imaging To Support Air-to-air, High-bandwidth, Image-based, Active Tracking$699K
Aug 2017Federal contractDefense · Igf::ot::igf Adaptive Optics Prototype For A Meter-class Telescope Used For Space Surveillance$150K
Aug 2016Federal grantDefense · Phase I · Holographic Imaging to Support Air-to-Air, High-Bandwidth, Image-Based, Active Tracking$149K
Jun 2016Federal contractDefense · Igf::ot::igf Holographic Imaging To Support Air-to-air, High-bandwidth, Image-based Active Tracking$149K
Apr 2016Federal contractDefense · Igf::ot::igf This Is A Small Business Innovative Research (SBIR) Phase 1 Effort, The Contractor Shall Design And Develop Innovative Technologies For Detection And Discrimination Of Surface And Buried Explosive Hazards".$96K

Node area is scaled to amount. Form D reports securities sold, which can differ from an announced round; filings are numbered in the order they were made.

1 record has no date or no amount, so it isn’t placed on the timeline.

Standing among 89 peers

Line = median

Defense · Software

Federal grants#37 · top 42%

Cumulative measures favor older companies. Rankings describe position today, not outcome. Below the median, ranks show as a band rather than a number.

Founders and team

No founders are linked to this company yet.

Founders appear once a person is matched to the company through its own patents, grants or filings. We never infer people from social profiles.

Checked: USPTO inventors; federal award principal investigators; SEC Form D related persons · Oct 23, 2026

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What it has protected

No granted patents are on record.

USPTO usually publishes applications 18 months after filing, so recent applications may not be visible yet. Patents assigned under a different entity name won’t match.

Checked: USPTO granted patents and published applications · Oct 23, 2026

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Regulatory activity · Defense

Sector-level, not company-level

11 Jun 2026Danger Zone; Waters of Carr Creek and Whitehall Bay in the Vicinity of the Naval Support Activity AnnapolisEngineers Corps
13 Mar 2026Federal Acquisition Regulation; Federal Acquisition Circular 2026-01; IntroductionNational Aeronautics and Space Administration
13 Mar 2026Federal Acquisition Regulation: Trade Agreements ThresholdsNational Aeronautics and Space Administration
13 Mar 2026Federal Acquisition Regulation; Federal Acquisition Circular 2026-01; Small Entity Compliance GuideNational Aeronautics and Space Administration
27 Aug 2025Federal Acquisition Regulation; Federal Acquisition Circular 2025-06; Small Entity Compliance GuideNational Aeronautics and Space Administration
27 Aug 2025Federal Acquisition Regulation; Federal Acquisition Circular 2025-06; IntroductionNational Aeronautics and Space Administration

Rules are matched to sector, not to company. Recent activity in a sector is context rather than a signal about this business — until rules are matched to what a company actually builds, the section is shown as context and nothing more.

Sources

Federal grants from SBIR/STTR, NIH, NSF and DoD records. Federal contracts from USAspending.gov. Private capital from SEC Form D. Patents from USPTO. Publications from OpenAlex. Regulatory activity from the Federal Register. Press matched on company name.

How to read this page

Figures show associations in public records, not causes or predictions. Nothing here is investment advice. An em-dash means no record was found under this company's name, not that none exists.

Data freshness

SEC Form D filings through Oct 23, 2026. SBIR and STTR awards through Oct 21, 2026.